Munich Reinsurance Company of Germany, one of the world's biggest reinsurers, announced Friday the opening of its Beijing branch, becoming the first foreign reinsurance subsidiary in China.

The German giant has been permitted to run life and non-life reinsurance businesses in Renminbi yuan around the country, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), the country's insurance industry governing body.

The branch's presence is viewed as a step-up of competition in China's insurance sector as the reinsurance market, following the insurance market, has been opened to foreign businesses as part of China's commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Meng Zhaoyi, director of the international department of the CIRC, said that although accounting for less than two percent of China's insurance market, foreign insurance companies had seen rapid growth in recent years, with their market share in Shanghai and Guangzhou in terms of premiums accounting for 12 percent and 14 percent of the totals respectively.

Munich Reinsurance opened two representative offices in Beijing and Shanghai in 1997 and submitted a report for preparation of a branch to CIRC in April this year.

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